Flickering Mind
by Rai Lockhart
Summary: I am not insane. Let me out of here! I am not crazy! There's been a mistake... it's Zuko's fault! Azula centric, post-insanity, one shot. Enjoy!


**A/N: Azula-centric, post-insanity fic. Read, review, and enjoy.**

I'm not crazy.

I have tried, repeatedly, to tell the guards outside of my cell that I'm not crazy. They didn't need to put me in this stupid room with its pads and no metal. This was the cell that crazy people needed to be in, and I. Am. Not. Crazy.

I am a princess! I am royalty! Didn't they know how to treat royalty?

Obviously not!

"Let me out!" I yelled. "I don't deserve to be in here! I am Azula, princess of your nation! I am Fire Lord! LET ME OUT!"

My hands banged on the padded walls, making hardly any noise. In my desperation, I threw a fire ball at what I knew to be the door, but the fire-proof material left me nothing but a scorch mark. A black, sooty mark. That's it. Everything. Everything is black. Everything will crumble. A small giggle escaped my lips. Everything ends in blackness.

"Be quiet, Azula," they said from outside.

"It's so sad, isn't it? Look what she's been reduced to," they spoke.

"Nothing but an insane shell of a girl. Poor thing. "

"SHUT UP SHUT UP!" I screamed, throwing my hands over my ears. They didn't know what they were talking about! Tears streamed down my cheeks. I leaned against the wall in my solitary corner. They didn't know! I wasn't crazy. They didn't know anything! They didn't know! They didn't…

"I feel so sorry for her, you know?"

My eyes, wide and red from crying (I am not crazy I'm not I'm not! My eyes are NOT frantic!), turned to the two bars in the door. I could see a guard peaking in. "I DON'T WANT YOUR PITY!" I screamed at her. Him. It. Whoever it was.

This was all that damn Zuko's fault! He was the one who had put me here. He was the one that had ruined my life! He told them I was crazy! He told them lies! He was jealous of me! He was scared of my power! So he stuck me in this room, with these damn walls and those damn guards.

It was all his fault!

"Don't blame your brother, Azula." I turned to see my mother standing beside me, a frown on her face. "Zuko did the right thing, you know, by putting you here."

"GO AWAY!" I yelled at her, wanting to hurdle something but finding nothing on hand. Her image flickered, and suddenly it wasn't my mother, it had never been my mother. No, it was Mai in here, to torture me. That was it. She was just pretending to be my mother, but her true colors were revealed.

She sneered at me. "You make me sick," she spat. "I can't believe I ever pretended to be your friend. Saving Zuko was the best thing I've ever done."

My eyes grew wide (not frantic just angry! I'm not crazy!) and I lunged at her. She needed to die. She was a traitor to the nation, how did she get past security! They must have known that this girl was a traitor!

My hands molded themselves around her neck, and I began to squeeze. Mai, the idiot, had forgotten her dumb little knives, and she had nothing to fight back with. I grinned in triumph as she began to struggle for breath, almost there- I could see her eyes rolling back in her head!

WHAM. My left arm went numb. WHAM my right arm also fell limply at my sides.

Ty Lee was standing near me, her hands outstretched. Oh god, not again. This cannot be happening again! Why did they let them in here! Why, why, WHY?

Mai took a deep breath, and her eyes rolled back into place. "See? We don't care about you, Azula. You're just a crazy little girl."

My anger spiked, and I threw a blue fireball at Ty Lee. She crumpled into black ash, turning into another sorchmark on my padded walls, and I turned to Mai, my grin devious. I could see the fear in her eyes. "Without Ty Lee, you're lost. You can't beat me, Mai!" I told her, and pounced on her again.

I tightened my grip around her neck, squeezing until she stopped breathing, chocking until she started melting from the pressure. Mai turned to a puddle at my feet, all of her melting into one, gray puddle.

For a second I saw myself- A pretty girl, powerful, and wrongly imprisoned. Not crazy. Not crazy like they all said. Never insane. I knew what I was doing. I hurled another fireball into the liquid, watching in delight as it caught on fire, again leaving nothing behind but a black scorch mark.

Everything would turn to soot!

I laughed, enjoying the destruction I had caused. Black soot for everyone! No one left in the world but me! Everyone turned to dark scorch marks! No one to betray me, no one to imprison me, no one to take what is rightfully mine. No one to leave me, no one to freeze me, and no one to hurt me. There would be no one in the world left to hurt me.

"Yes, no one left but me. Azula, ruler of the world! Maybe I'll leave some alive to enslave. They can worship me and fear me. No true feelings but fear. That's right," I murmured to myself.

I crawled back to my corner, hating myself for getting carried away. They'd think I was crazy, which I most certainly am not, if they heard me muttering to myself. That was the mark of a crazy person, right? Or a brilliant person. Yes, that was it. I am a brilliant mind, not understood by anyone.

And Zuko is jealous of me. That's why he got his whore to freeze me in water so he could imprison me. Even in the end, he couldn't defeat me! He needed others, more powerful than him, to beat me while I was distracted with him. Yes, I never lose. I was just overrun, taken over by Mai and Ty Lee's betrayals.

That was all. A grin formed on my face, and I began to giggle. Yes, I was just distracted. And when I took over the world, Zuko and his whore would be the first to turn to ash. Then they would realize I wasn't crazy. I am sane. I am the most sane person in the world!

I am not insane! Not crazy!

I am Azula, conqueror of kingdoms, rightful Fire Lord of the Fire Nation, great-grand daughter of one of the most notorious men in history!

I leaned up again the wall, hugging my knees to my chest.

I am brilliant, not crazy!

x.x.x

Later, a guard peeked into the room once more. "Look, she burned her soup again. And I think there's new scorch marks on her walls. Poor girl, she really has lost her mind, hasn't she?"


End file.
